WorldSBK Estoril: ‘Nice to have the confidence, I enjoyed it’ - Lowes

Kawasaki’s Alex Lowes was a confident and fast companion for the championship ‘Big Three’ in WorldSBK at Estoril, only dropping back later in race two to finish in what was probably a best possible fourth place.

“I was happy,” said Lowes. “In the second race dry conditions, at least I was able to mix in with them for 12, 13 laps. No one has been able to do that. That’s nice, because I’ve been a long way off. It looks worse, the start of the year because of the two DNF’s at Assen. If you take that out, I’ve been pretty consistent all year.

“In the practice here, I struggled a bit. The base setting we sort of had from the winter and the first two rounds didn’t work here, but it’s a little bit of a strange track. You need to put the bike on its nose a bit more to turn. So, once we got that worked out, the bike has been working quite well. I felt good this morning in the wet. I was a little bit cautious the first few laps of the Superpole race. I was on slicks and a couple of the corners were a little thin line. I wasn’t brave enough. So, I dropped right back. Then my speed at the end of that race was good.

“The changes we made on the bike from yesterday were good. I knew from the second row in the last race my pace was going to be quite good. Used the SCX and I felt good apart from the last five or six laps. We destroyed the rear tyre quite a lot, so this is something I need to work on with the setting but in general it’s been a pretty solid weekend.”

What Lowes has regained, despite a double technical DNF at Assen, is confidence. Self confidence is a simple necessity for any rider to perform at their best.

“Last year was so hard for me,” explained Lowes. “I was injured all year and I never felt good on the bike, even if I